Ok, it wasn’t a rock concert. But the speakers were certainly rocking!

If elections were based on rally attendance, speaker charisma and audience participation, the Workers’ Party would win by a landslide.

Their candidates seem aware of this. A few mentioned that they are glad that Singaporeans have come out in force to listen to them speak. Most importantly, they urged the crowd to go the full distance by voting for WP.

So, to my observations:

1. The pull of WP
   The Workers’ Party seems to have the attention of Singaporeans far and wide, young and old. A couple of uncles were chatting in the bus in Hokkien. The Geekess translated. (Hokkien is similar to Teochew, she says.) Apparently, they didn’t know each other before today because they asked each other where they were from. One of them said Bukit Batok.
   
   Bukit Batok.
   
   WP is not contesting any seat west of Bukit Timah Expressway. And yet this man has seen fit to travel from Bukit Batok for the WP rally. The cynics will say, it’s because the WP puts up a good show. Indeed, they do. Others might point out that the concentration of all WP’s big guns is the reason the entire nation is focused on Aljunied GRC.
   
   I’m not sure. See point 3.




2. Young voters are interested
   Say what you want about young Singaporeans being apathetic. They are attending, listening, responding, tweeting and facebooking this election.
   
   At very least, it’s a start.




3. Singaporeans seem really disgruntled with the PAP
   I am not privy to what goes on in the PAP. Perhaps they are aware that Singaporeans are unhappy. Maybe they think it’s just Singaporeans doing what Singaporeans do best – complain. (The story of a deaf frog comes to mind.)
   
   But on the streets, in the buses, on the trains, at the hawker centres and of course, online – I’ve heard nothing but praise for the Opposition and criticism of the PAP. And this all came to a head at the WP rally. Compared to a 2006 WP rally I attended, there seemed to be a lot more bile directed at the PAP.
   
   A lot more.




4. The absurdity of GRCs
   One of the main WP themes was that GRCs and re-drawing of electoral boundaries are designed to keep the PAP firmed entrenched while purportedly being a means to ensure minority representation in Parliament.
   
   As if to prove the point, we chanced upon Nicole Seah NSP posters on the way to Serangoon MRT Station from Serangoon Stadium.
   
   NSP? Nicole Seah? When did we walk into Marine Parade GRC?
   
   Apparently, when we crossed Boundary Road from the stadium! Refer to the screenshot below, taken from SG Electoral Map 2011 by torty3.
   
   I don’t know about you, but I associate Marine Parade with the sea. And I don’t live near the sea.

I attended the Reform Party’s rally at Clementi Stadium for West Coast GRC earlier.

It had not dawned on me that this was the party’s first ever election rally. The party was founded in 2008, after the last General Election in 2006.

I’ll just give some brief personal impressions. I’m assuming the mainstream and social will take care of reporting the content.

1. The Quiet Rally
   I was quite underwhelmed. At most rallies, there is a dedicated core of party supporters in front of the stage making a huge racket. None here. Initially, there were just a few people at the front. I suspect some were members of the press. It didn’t help that this rally was held at a stadium. The stage was on the field, then a huge gap to the stands, where the early birds were seated. It was only when latecomers came in, after the stands were full, that a crowd started forming in directly in front of the speaker. The RP’s lack of manpower meant there wasn’t a group of people to get the crowd going. There was polite applause and the occasional shout of support, but most of the noise came from the speakers and the very boisterous emcee.
2. Mr Speaker, Sir
   Kenneth Jeyaretnam needs to  speak more like a Singaporean. It needn’t be broken English or Singlish. His British accent is a bit too atas. I heard murmurs of “he’s like B B See” (if you don’t know who I’m talking about, please start watching The Noose), and I heard some people saying that they couldn’t understand him. As for the others, most of them were too monotonous or spoke with too much fire and brimstone. For me, the best speaker was Osman Bin Sulaiman, who is an RP candidate at… Ang Mo Kio GRC. He spoke clearly, with good variation in tone and pace. He made a few good points and didn’t get carried away when he did hammer a point home. (Apologies for the Workers’ Party reference.)
3. Similarity of ideas
   Just like Singapore Democratic Party, RP also wants to cut NS to one year. Just like many Opposition parties, they want to introduce minimum wage. Similarly, they want to cut GST and remove it for essential goods. Sometimes, you have to wonder why the Opposition parties won’t just join each other.